Agreed. We gave up on the Travel Channel a few years ago. They used to be good, now there’s absolutely nothing on there we care to watch. Discovery and The History Channel are similar. We still like the Smithsonian Channel and National Geographic Channel, but I assume most places don’t pay for that level of TV.
I wonder if they could just WiFi a large aquarium webcam. Watching fish swim is usually relaxing for many ages.
I think that we are at a place where if you want to have it on a news channel, patients will judge you for it and you won’t please everyone. My dentist and my doctor’s offices do not have tv’s. My gym has both FOX and CNN on different ends of the treadmills and cycles. Admittedly, I choose my side when I am over there since I have caught myself rolling my eyes at something on the other channel and I really just want to enjoy my workout. 
Sitting in a doctors waiting room and yep, there are magazines - I could catch up!
- and no TV - but blaring classical musicI would never give a thought as to what was on the TV - read a book, my phone or a magazine. People will complain about anything. I know someone who picked his chair up and turned it around because he didn’t like what was on ( too left leaning for him) and made a point to let everyone know what this dentist’s office was airing. Oh whatever.
My dentist’s office is incredibly good at scheduling, so waiting room time is very minimal. She does have tv’s in each room where teeth are cleaned, and the hygienist lets the patient decide if it should be on or off. If on, the patient gets to decide which channel. I have been going to the same hygienist twice a year since the mid-80’s, so we leave the tv off … we do our best to converse while she’s cleaning!
Our local cable company – which everyone has to subscribe to, sadly, or you basically get no TV – has a local news and weather station. Almost every doctor’s office TV I’ve seen is set to that station. So you get weather, traffic, and local stories. It’s very inoffensive – and, IMO, very boring.
Ahhh, good point. I don’t really watch TV in a channel kinda way anymore. We have Roku and YouTube TV and just watch programs that we want to watch rather than put it on a channel. If you could find a travel program of some kind that could be good.
None of my doctors have a tv in the waiting room. My husband just had knee replacement surgery and on the day of the surgery, I spent most of the time that H was in pre-op, OR, and recovery in a family waiting room. In that room were a few tvs, but they were in cubicles that sat 2-3 people, so that the only people who saw those tvs were in the cubicle. I always have a book with me and I almost always read while I’m waiting.
Sitting in the waiting room waiting to go in for yet another nerve ablation, and the TV has Judge Judy playing; talk about anxiety inducing. Not sure which is worse, the TV, the man snoring across from me, or the woman next to me talking loudly on her phone…and I forgot my noise cancelling headphones. Stop the insanity 
I’ve been to three different doctors’ office in the last two weeks. I honestly couldn’t even tell you whether they had a TV in the waiting room. I always read while I’m waiting so I just never paid any attention. As long as the volume was muted, it doesn’t make much difference to me whether there is a tv or not.
Interesting how many people here (besides me) bring a book to a waiting room. I’m always the only one with a book and get odd looks 
Always pack my kindle with me to take to appointments.
I have stopped watching the news. It is always bad. No matter what channel. So I can see why someone might not want to have the news on in the waiting room. Most the doctors offices I go to don’t have TVs. My nail place shows HGTV and food network.
From what I have seen restaurants with televisions usually show sports, since politics only occasionally becomes overt.
+1 to being someone who is really turned off by tv’s in restaurants. A sports bar sure, but if not….I can eat at home with the tv on!!! My H is totally distracted when there is a tv in front of him.
But then again, we rarely go out to eat anymore!
Mom, Sis, and I always took books to doctor’s offices, from the time Sis and I were very young. We had more than one doctor chuckle when he came in the room and saw all three of us with our noses in our books.
Nothing at my regular doctor’s - there used to be magazines and picture books for kids but with covid it became impossible so he cut the subscriptions and bought new, more comfortable chairs 
and we all look at our phones (or me at my Kindle).
However when I had to go to a specialist’s, there was a TV in the waiting room, with hard-hitting news on a loop such as the “fat bear” competition in Alaska, something involving flowers, how yoga is good for you, and lots of drug informercials. I hated it.
CNN was typically the “middle” choice since roughly 1/3 their viewers are liberal, 1/3 independent, 1/3 conservative - with FoxNews and MSNBC being almost exclusively conservative or liberal , respectively (with a sprinkling of independents for either one). With polarization it means it is likely to offend half to 2/3 people in the waiting room.
I guess you could stick to PBS but some parents may object to their children watching cartoons or to the local documentaries…
What about old-fashioned travel DVDs on mute and on a loop, (Jamaica! Dubrovnik! Machu Pichu! Beijing! Berlin! New Orleans!) alternating so that the receptionist has a variety of background pictures?
National Geographic requires a bit of attention but should also be okay.
The Paris airport shows France24English (a channel that mixes French stuff and international stuff, all in English, with English subtitles). I’m sure there’s some sort of opinion in it but it shouldn’t offend based on politics, unless you really hate Paris, and it looked pretty much to be to news what elevator music is to music.
Or you could keep CNN, except on the days when this patient is scheduled.
Thank you for the replies; it has given me more to think about. For those that may have misunderstood, our practice caters to adults and children; after receiving your allergy injection, you must wait 30 minutes. We also have regular patients seeing the doctors daily. The after school crowd is filled with families with multiple children of all ages. The middle and high school kids have phones or tablets, and many will be doing homework. Prior to the pandemic, we had magazines in the waiting room; we no longer have any reading material available. I do understand news is not for everyone, but when breaking news happens, it is nice to know.
While we don’t have to have the tv on, it is nice for those that want to watch. I really haven’t noticed many patients actually watch for a length of time; mostly they just glance up depending on what is on. Again, the tv is muted, with closed captioning on; it you don’t look up, you would have no idea we had a tv! I am not going to change the station during the day to find a different show; once the tv is turned on in the morning, it stays on that station. Yes, I am the keeper of the remote! This morning I decided to keep the tv turned off. I wonder if anyone will ask for it back on; time will tell.
We had Animal Planet on once about a year or so ago; got rid of that when one animal was killing another! We did joke about putting the Weather Channel on as it was neutral. I have no problem with HDTV being on if that will make most happier; I just don’t want this woman to feel like she was able to bully us. It will never cross my mind to complain about a tv on mute, and what was being shown. My husband was on the road and stopped for dinner at an outside restaurant, when Sunday church services was broadcasted loudly over the speaker. This nice Jewish boy put his earbuds in and listed to a podcast!
I have a tv, but dropped the cable service after a year. Too annoying, but we used it mostly for breaking news, so it never ran open to close. I’m just not a fan of it.
Now I use it for kids DVDs if needed. I have a collection of Disney movies.
Patients rarely wait past their appointment time, so parents, drivers, spouses use the waiting room. I brought back the magazines this summer.
Lots of physicians and dentists have waiting room TVs running just about anything in my area.
Plus, I have a large fish tank in my waiting room. Very relaxing and the fish are entertaining.
I have SiriusXM wired into every room at very low volume. I usually have it on the Bridge or Coffeehouse.
I have stopped feeling this way. The only time I need to know about “breaking news” is if it’s a tornado warning or something that requires my immediate action. Otherwise it can wait.
